Straight bar knitting machine fabric draw-off means

ABSTRACT

STRAIGHT BAR KNITTING MACHINE DRAW-OFF BAR IN WHICH THE DRAW-OFF HOOK ELEMENTS ARE EACH INDIVIDUALLY SPRING MOUNTED E.G. BY TAIL PORTIONS OF THE ELEMENTS BEING LOOPED OR COILED THUS PROVIDING SPRING FORMATION WHICH ARE ACCOMMODATED IN A LONGITUDINAL GROOVE IN THE BAR, FOR THE PURPOSE OF THE ELEMENTS BEING INDEPENDENTLY SELFADJUSTABLE TO WORKING LOAD WHEN APPLIED.

Sept. 20, 1971 R. 51.000 ErAL 3,605,447

STRAIGHT BAR KNITTING MACHINE FABRIC DRAW-OFF MEANS Filed Oct. 17, 19692 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG].

Se t. 20, 1971 R. BLOOD EIAL 3,605,447

STRAIGHT BAR KNITTING MACHINE FABRIC DRAW-OFF MEANS Filed Oct. 17, 19692 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent Office 3,605,447 Patented Sept.20, 1971 3,605,447 STRAIGHT BAR KNITTING MACHINE FABRIC DRAW-OFF MEANSRaymond Blood and Alan John Pearson, Loughborough,

England, assignors to William Cotton Limited, Loughborough,Leicestershire, England 7 Filed Oct. 17, 1969, Ser. No. 867,305 Claimspriority, application Great Britain, Nov. 2, 1968, 52,039/ 68 Int. Cl.D04b 27/34 US. Cl. 66--149R 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Straightbar knitting machine draw-off bar in which the draw-ofi hook elementsare each individually spring mounted e.g. by tail portions of theelements being looped or coiled thus providing spring formations whichare accommodated in a longitudinal groove in the bar, for the purpose ofthe elements {being independently selfadjustable to a working load whenapplied.

This invention is for improvements in or relating to straight barknitting machines of the type having drawotf means in which there aremain draw-off rollers widely spaced from the needles, an initialdraw-01f hook bar for hooking onto fabric during an early part of itsproduction, and spaced cam-racked guide chains for carrying the hookbar, while drawing off the fabric during its production, to a positionenabling the fabric to be relinquished to the main draw-off rollers forfurther draw-off.

A difliculty with initial draw-off hook bars has been that they may berequired to be hooked onto the fabric when it is of very short length,possibly only a few courses long, and while the fabric is untensionedform. Consequently the hooks do not necessarily engage the fabric in thesame course, and this can result in the applied load being distributedbetween the points in undesirably uneven manner.

An object of the invention is to provide hook bar draw-off mechanism,for fabric being produced on a straight bar knitting machine, of suchimproved construction that the different hooks are not subjected toundesirably uneven loads.

The invention provides a draw-off hook bar, for drawoff of fabric beingproduced on a straight bar knitting machine, in which the hooks aremounted on the bar with spring or like means providing for the hooksbeing independently self adjustable to a working load when applied.Conveniently there is a plurality of spring or the like devices, one foreach hook. Conveniently also each spring like device comprises anextension of the shank of the hook shaped into spring like form. Eachspring like extension may be of coiled leaf spring form,

.the shank of the hook extending through a transverse slot in the barand the leaf spring formations being constrained between longitudinallyextending shoulders in the bar.

-In one arrangement the leaf spring formations are disposed in alongitudinal recess in the bar, and they are retained in position by alongitudinally extending cap removably secured by screws to the bar.

The above and other features of the invention set out in the appendedclaims are incorporated in the constructions which will now bedescribed, as specific embodiments with reference to the accompanyingdrawings in which:

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of one end part of a fabricdraw-off hook bar according to the invention.

FIG. 2 is a similar view to FIG. 1 showing the hooks hooked onto fabricbeing produced in a straight bar knitting machine.

Referring to FIG. 1 the draw-off hook bar comprises a body part 1 and alongitudinally extending cap 2 which is adapted to be removably fittedto the body 1 by screws such as 3 and clearance and screw holes such as4, 5.

The bar body 1 is provided with a series of equally spaced hooks such as6, each of which has a fabric penetrating point 6a and a shank 6b.

The shanks 6b extend through transverse slots such as 7 in the bar body1 and each shank 6b is connected to a coil leaf spring such as 8.

The coil leaf springs 8 are conveniently disposed in a longitudinalrecess 9 in the bar body 1, the recess 9 providing shoulders 10, 11between which the leaf springs 8 are constrained.

Conveniently the leaf springs 8 are formed as extensions of the shanks6b for which purpose the shank extensions are bent round to form an armportion 8a which bears against the shoulder 10*, at least one coilportion 8b, and a free arm portion which bears against the shoulder 11.

Conveniently the shank is further formed into a further coil portion 8dbetween the shank 6b and the arm 8a.

In use of the hook bar, the hooks are hooked onto fabric as it is beingknitted in a straight bar knitting machine by bearded needles 12, FIG.2.

Since it may be required for this to take place after only a few coursesof the fabric has been produced, the different hooks may not hook intothe fabric in the same course.

As a result of this, and when the fabric has been further produced, asshown in FIG. 2, there would be a strong tendency for the fabric load tobe unevenly distributed between the hooks. However since the hooks aremounted individually each by its own spring formation, the books willautomatically become self-adjusted according to any differences in theapplied fabric loads.

Furthermore at the time of engagement of the hooks with the initial fewcourses of the fabric the spring mounting of the hooks willadvantageously allow the hooks to adapt themselves to the knittingmotions of the needles.

The hook bar may be rigidly secured to a pair of spaced endless chainswhich are adapted by cam operated racking means to rack the hook baraway from the needles 12 as the fabric is being produced.

The hooks and springs are retained in the bar by the cap 2.

It is to be understood that the particular spring arrangementhereinbefore described may be modified by minor variations. Forinstance, the configuration of the spring could be altered in any minormanner giving the same results.

What we claim is:

1. A straight bar knitting machine fabric draw-off hook bar comprising,in combination, a single bar body part adapted for use in a fabricdraw-off mechanism, a longitudinally extending cap removably fitted ontosaid bar body part, a longitudinally extending recess in said bar bodypart providing first and second opposite side shoulders, a series oflongitudinally spaced transverse slots extending through said first sideshoulders, a series of fabric draw-off hooks having shank portionsextending from their hooks through said transverse slots into saidlongitudinally extending recess in said bar body part, and extensions ofsaid shank extending in said recess and bent into leaf spring formationswith opposite side arms extending in opposite directions, respectively,and longitudinally along said first and second opposite side shoulders,respectively, of said recess, said fabric draw-01f hooks being retainedin position by said cap and being independently self adjusting to aworking load of fabric attached to said hooks and being produced by saidmachine.

2. The invention of claim 1 having said extensions bent into coilformations at locations between mutually adjacent parts of said oppositeside arms.

3. The invention of claim 1, having said extensions bent into coilformations at locations between mutually adjacent parts of said shanksand one of said opposite side arms.

4. The invention of claim 1, having said extensions bent into first coilformations at locations between adjacent parts of said shanks and one ofsaid opposite side References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 993,519 5/1911Guth 38102.91X 2,241,895 5/1941 Walker et a1. 38102.1

' FOREIGN PATENTS 116,098 1/1901 Germany 66-150 122,695 8/1901 Germany66114 16,585 1887 Great Britain 26'62(A) 690,167 4/1953 Great Britain66149 ROBERT R. MACKEY, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R.

